The use of intramucosal inserts for anchoring or retaining dentures in place is well known. This technique is used in those cases where, for any of several common reasons, the contact between the denture and the patient's mucosal tissue cannot, by itself, adequately hold the denture in the desired position.
In practicing this technique the dentist forms, by drilling, a series of cavities in the patient's mucosal tissue. Inserts in the form of an enlarged head mounted at the distal end of a shaft are fixedly mounted on the interior surface of the denture to be received within the cavities formed in the mucosal tissue, thus anchoring the denture in place. Examples of intramucosal inserts are shown and described in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,382,791 and Weiss et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,905,108.
As stated above, the insert-receiving cavity is formed in the patient's mucosal tissue by a drilling operation and there is, of necessity, an initial healing period. Weiss et al, supra, states that the healing period is six to eight weeks, during which regeneration of the mucosal tissue approximately conforms the shape of the cavity to that of the insert. Most inserts are of what might best be described as a "mushroom-type" shape which requires a fair amount of tissue regeneration before adequate retention is achieved. Thus, until the healing process has had a chance to develop at least some tissue regeneration, the original problems of slippage and movement of the denture still remain. This, in turn, prolongs the healing process and is a source of extreme pain, discomfort and aggravation to the patient.
The present invention provides a solution to this last problem.